Among Places (Don't worry, I'll find you again)
by cleria
Summary: Artemis begins to wonder what would have happened if they didn't meet as superheroes. If she had met Wally West before Kid Flash. (AU Dimensions) Hints of Dick/Zatanna, hints of Dick/Babs, and some other characters.


**Dimension 0: (Event/ AKA Wally dies)**

Sometimes Artemis wonders what it would have been like to meet Wally West as Artemis Crock and for Wally West to meet Artemis Crock. She wonders this as she stares at the flickering hologram of Kid Flash and the plaque engraved with the date of his death.

(She also wonders why the day of his funeral was sunny and crisp, no rain or clouds. Like she was the only one mourning, she wants to curse at the sky for not shedding a tear for him. She acknowledges that Wally West may have only been one person and she was silly for thinking the universe cries for those who pass.)

But hasn't Wally West done enough for this world to deserve a day where things aren't right without him?

 **Dimension 1: (Major Altercation/ AKA Annoying child)**

Artemis feels a burning mixture of anger and embarrassment boil within her. Well, half anger at the stranger with bright red hair and half embarrassment at the cooing baby in the stroller. Her face won't stop burning and she looks away from the man's green eyes as her baby gurgles excitedly. Honestly she wants to die in a hole.

Well, after she avenges her pride. She still can't believe Mckenna's first word was… _Wally._

Artemis is absolutely aware of the distaste showing on her face while she gazes down at the man crouched in front of her stroller. "That's adorable." Wally cries out as Mckenna wraps her pudgy fingers around the man's longer and slender finger. "How old is she?" Artemis honestly wants to stay angry but feels the emotion dissipate as Wally looks up, his jade eyes shining with delight.

Artemis does her best to keep the strong look of displeasure on her face as she answers. "Eleven months." She refuses to tell this man that her child's first word was his name. She also refuses to subject her ears to Mckenna's rendition of a song made up of only the name Wally.

Wally laughs at the baby and pushes himself up to his full height, just a little taller than Artemis. "Well, she's cute, definitely takes after her mom." Artemis barely has time to open her mouth indignantly before the red head is gone, probably back to his jog. Grumbling, she pushes the stroller towards the exit of the park.

Artemis actually, genuinely, wants to cry after the next few days. Not out of sadness or despair, just out of sheer annoyance. She also wants to rip her hair out as Mckenna ruins yet another shirt.

She thought that after she left the sweaty jogger man in the park that it would be the end of it and she could pretend that her precious child's first word was Wally. It never once occurred that Mckenna would keep saying the name. Over and over again.

On the third day Artemis slams her head on the table while Mckenna happily burps and slams her hands in her food, crying out a jubilant, "Wally! Walllllly!"

"Mckenna. . ." She groans. "Please. . . I don't think I can take anymore." Her answer comes in the form of a shrill cry of the cursed name. "What will it take?" Wait. Artemis sighs as she lifts her head. "Really? Are you really going to make me do this?"

It takes three attempts before she meets jogger man (She refuses to acknowledge his name and has come to associate it with a curse.) again. Artemis grits her teeth, bracing herself for the exchange that is either going to enforce her daughter's behavior or wean it off.

She really hopes the latter because honestly she just wants to _stop hearing that name._

"Hey!" Artemis waves at the freckled man. "Jogger, uh, guy!" She almost winces at the awkward statement but resolves at the fact that jogger guy is definitely a step up from his actual name.

He runs over and smiles at Artemis, practically blinding her with his white teeth. "I'm pretty sure I introduced myself when I bumped into your stroller last time. I'm Wal-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, just please," He raises an eyebrow at the interruption and Artemis exhales sharply. "I mean, I'm Artemis. That is Mckenna." She points at the dark baby in the blue stroller. "Now," Artemis gently picks the infant up and turns toward jogger guy. "Make her shut up."

"Wally!" Mckenna gleefully cries, kicking her stubby legs. Artemis extends her arms to the hesitant man whose eyes widened at the mention of his name.

"Please."

Jogger guy cocks his head to the side. "Um? What?"

"Listen." Artemis takes a deep breath as she as bounces Mckenna in one arm. "Mybaby'sfirstwordmayhavebeenyourstupidnameandnowshewon'tstopsayingitandIhavenoideahowtomakeherstop." She sucks in air as soon as her rapid sentence ends and sort of, kind of, definitely wants to die in a hole once again.

Her searing embarrassment intensifies as jogger man doubles over laughing, leaning over the light blue stroller. "You mean," He says in between laughs. "Your baby's first word was Wally?" Artemis nods, her face rivaling the redness of his hair.

He smirks. "That must suck, you must have heard my name so many times by now." He gives another brief chuckle as a flash of anger passes over Artemis's face.

"I hate it. And Wally is a terrible name." She deadpans, looking away from him and brushing a few blond strands of her hair from her face. She hears him mutter something about how her name isn't all that great either and her head snaps to him again.

"Excuse me?" She says, staring him right in the eyes. He levels his gaze with her, his stare just as strong.

He lets out a scoff. "I can't believe I thought you were cute." Artemis opens and closes her mouth like a fish, not quite sure how to take that.

"And another thing," She storms, making up her mind to take it as an insult. "You called me cute. Which is actively flirting. Do you flirt with mothers all the time? I could be married for all you know." Whipping her gold hair over her shoulder she knits her eyebrows angrily. Unfortunately it probably comes off as less intimidating because of her cherry red face.

She hears another indignant scoff. "You aren't wearing a wedding ring." He turns away from her, a pink flush spreading over his own face.

"Besides," He grins. "If your baby likes me as much as you say she does I'm going to be around more often."

Artemis promptly hits him on the head but it lacks any malice. She can't be mean while Mckenna is happily giggling at the man. Maybe, Artemis decides, Wally isn't so bad.

 **Dimension 2: (Major Altercation/ AKA Crime fighting but in a different world)**

"Artemis Crock," Hearing her name from the instructor, she steps forward, her polished boots squeaking on the floor of the silent room of trainees. "Richard Grayson," A generally buff looking man with dark hair steps forward. "Wally West, Zatanna Zatara, Connor Kent." Three more trainees stepped forward, one with bright red hair, two dark-haired ones, two male and one female. "S.T.A.R.S squad six."

Artemis's head snaps up so fast she half-way feels like she almost gave herself whiplash. S.T.A.R.S? Special Tactics and Rescue Service. Artemis felt herself practically glowing, S.T.A.R.S was made up of only the best of the best. Barely containing her excitement, she looked over at her new team, looking just as zealous as her.

"Captain, Richard Grayson." Artemis's stormy colored eyes shifted to the first raven-haired man known as Richard. He looked especially proud, his chest puffed out and Artemis wanted to snicker. "Get prepped for team training, your first mission is in two weeks."

The team training would have gone great if it weren't for Wally West. The team worked like a well-oiled machine and Artemis completely blames any mistake on the immature man. And this takes place as they're all having lunch.

"The exercise would have gone perfect if you didn't give away your position by shooting him!" Wally cried and Artemis pursed her lips unhappily, tossing a fry at him. He caught it in his mouth and chewed, grinning at her all the while.

"I'm a sharpshooter, I never miss. It would have been fine." She leans back, wiping her sweaty forehead. Certified sharpshooter is what she was and why she was picked for S.T.A.R.S, the team is only compromised of specialists.

100% accuracy was cool, but she wasn't mission leader like Richard (Who insists on the nickname Dick), she was the pointman, which was recon and field scouting. Pointman was assisted up by their backup man, which was Zatanna. There was other roles also, Connor was omni-man, in charge of weapon and vehicle maintenance and even Wally was a valuable asset. As rear security, he was in charge of communications and he was the medic.

"There's always a chance to miss." Wally narrowed his eyes, shoving another fry into his mouth. Artemis returns his stare. "Besides, you gave us away when you did, Zatanna was caught by the enemy in the exercise. You need to quit trying to lone wolf it." Artemis lowers her gaze.

"Really it's okay." Zatanna pipes up from beside Wally. Artemis bites her lip.

Wally was right. She would still rather die than to tell that to his freckled face though.

They've been a team for six months and no one is excited or zealous anymore. Most of the time it's rather opposite. Especially when one of them wakes up crying, on worse nights, screaming. Artemis and Wally still fight, Zatanna and Dick are still super chummy, and Connor is still as blunt as ever.

It's just . . . not the same.

It's a bad night when Artemis wakes up, her eyes open and she can still hear her shrill screams echo in the room. The other team members ignore it as they all have agreed to do since the first night Connor woke up sobbing a month ago. It's too complicated to comfort each other and no one wants to talk about their nightmares.

The missions S.T.A.R.S receive are intense. Things the normal police don't tread on. Odd things. Violent things. Things normal people don't see. Things they shouldn't. Which is why Special Tactics and Rescue Specialists exists.

So Artemis draws her knees to her chest, holding in tears and scared to close her eyes. If she did, the visions of gore would flit across her imagination again. She settles with staring at the bunk above her own, where Wally resides.

"Hey," She almost jumps out of her skin at the sudden voice, but recognizing the unusually soft voice, she settles.

Her voice is hoarse and she almost wants to tell Wally to go back to sleep but finds herself selfishly greeting him back. "Hi,"

"Was it our first mission again? Or the fourth?" Artemis's hands curl around the blanket and her grip tightens. Both missions brought up terrible memories but the first mission always got her choked up.

"First, I-" Artemis almost stutters but evens her breath and hears Wally shift in bunk above her. "I keep seeing it, the moment before we,"

Wally stops her. "Artemis it's okay, we have a mission tomorrow. I'm here and awake, so sleep." She wants to protest but drowsiness is clawing at her eyes and the new sense of security Wally provides lulls her into a dull sleep.

She doesn't hear his soft crying after she falls asleep.

Artemis and Wally don't look each other in the eyes the next day.

They'll be working with team seven, they find out, and Artemis gives a weak smile to the auburn haired girl named Megan and her squad mate Cassie. Artemis's eyes roam over the rest of team seven, Roy, their captain Kaldur, and the girl who goes by Rocket instead of her real name.

Team seven is assigned the name Bravo Team while team six is labeled Alpha Team, their briefing only consists of: "Investigate the homicides in the Arklay Mountains. Bravo Team will be sent in first followed by Alpha Team."

Alpha chatted with Bravo up until their departure. She learned that Megan was a psychology specialist assigned as rear security and that Cassie was the pointman of their team with her backup man Roy. Time passed quickly and soon Artemis found herself waving goodbye as Megan ran to the helicopter, following Bravo's omni-man Rocket.

The next morning Alpha Team is dispatched hours before set schedule. The reason being Bravo Team. Or lack of Bravo Team. They had failed to radio in at three different set checkpoints and officially declared missing in action. The mission still hadn't changed but with "extract Bravo Team if at all possible" taped on the end.

They load up quickly, Connor quickly checking weapons and Wally checking all his med supplies. The only words that came from their pilot are: "Hello, I'm Barbara, your additional rear specialist and pilot." The woman flips some switches and prepares for their trip to the Arklay mountains.

Wally reaches over to grip her hand and Artemis releases a tense sigh she wasn't aware she was holding in.

The mission goes terribly. Completely awful. Their worst yet.

Artemis thinks as she gently takes Megan in her arms, who was currently sobbing. Megan's whole team is dead, the rest of Bravo was reduced to either bits of meat or turned into one of the . . . mutations. The ones that tried to eat them. Artemis tries to erase the snapping jaws and yellow teeth from her mind.

Artemis lost teammates too. Connor was somewhere now, either as a zombie or a zombie snack. Their pilot Barbara was also dead, Dick also suffered a terrible death. Artemis had even seen his death and she knows that she won't be able to sleep for months. (Zatanna has already gone into shock and won't speak to anyone.)

She can't imagine being Megan, she can't imagine what she must have witnessed. Artemis looked down at the girl on her lap, in a fragile state of sleep. She doesn't bother to look up when someone slides into the seat beside her. She already knows who it is.

"Artemis," Wally says in a tone that Artemis would describe as gentle or maybe tired. She can't differentiate with her own drowsiness setting in at full speed. "You need to sleep," In her sluggishness, she feels a hand run through her hair and she wants to lean into the warmth and sleep. "It's been nine days." The hand on her head pushes her onto his shoulder and against her will, Artemis's eyes close.

Artemis sleeps for the first time after the Arklay Mission.

 **Dimension 3: (Major Altercation/ AKA Wally is competition)**

"Alright!" Artemis shouts before blowing her whistle. "Four more laps, knees up!" The group of children ages nine to twelve groan in unison as they start at a slow jog. Artemis smiles as she sits back in her chair, relishing the warm sun beaming down on her face.

She's interrupted by a ten year old boy she thinks is named Joseph. Artemis turns toward the boy, sunglasses on and eyebrows raised. "Why do we have to do laps?" He wrinkles his nose at her and Artemis lets out an exasperated sigh.

"Listen, Joseph," She starts before she's interrupted.

"My name is John." She sighs again.

"Okay, _John_ , you see that man over there?" Artemis raises a finger to the other side of field towards the freckled man standing with his own group of children. "We need to beat him." She makes a crushing motion with her fists. "Into the dust." Artemis side-eyes the man with malice. How _dare_ he say that her kids aren't good enough to beat his?

"Why?" The kid puffs out his cheeks and pouts. (Artemis won't admit it's adorable.) She purses her lips. She'd rather leave the country than to lose her 'Best Kid's Play Camp Counselor' to someone named Wally West.

She _will_ win the Kid's Play Olympics.

"Because, John, we can't." The boy looks nonplussed. "Um, I'll buy you all ice cream if we win the games?" The boy's expression morphs with excitement and he scampers off quickly to catch up with the other kids to tell them.

Artemis almost winces at the cheers that come from the children but resolves herself. It was for a good cause. Gazing across the clearing she locks her gaze onto green eyes and makes a slicing motion across her neck.

The boy just laughs and gives her thumbs up and she doesn't know what infuriates her more. The fact he wrote off her threat or that she liked his smile.

The first game is tug of war and Artemis's team fails horribly. They place sixth and if Artemis was less mature she would scream. So she doesn't scream, it's more of a growl and Wally jumps from next to her. "Jeez," He says as her team is slotted in sixth place and his team second. "Don't be such a sore loser."

Artemis snaps her head towards him. "Listen Baywatch," She narrows her eyes at his red swimming trunks and sun block lathered nose. "I'm not here to lose." His eyes dart to the board with the scores and Artemis intercepts before a smart remark could escape his mouth. "I'll beat you in the next competition." She pokes his chest. "I swear."

She storms off after that, with the intent to train the kids for the track games. The children definitely won't like the prospect of more laps around the baseball field but she's sure she can coax them with more ice cream.

(In hindsight maybe she shouldn't have stormed off because the field is in the other direction and she'll have to pass Wally on the way there, effectively letting him know she went in the wrong direction.)

How on _Earth_ did Wally get such fast children on his team?

She argues this as she watches his team slide into first and hers second. Wally smirks and reminisces about his days in track. His haughty laugh afterwards earns him a smack in the head from Artemis

"Ouch," He cradles the back of his head gingerly with his head. "You hit hard." He grumbles, rubbing the spot her hand had collided with.

"It's a gift."

Both of their teams are disqualified during the mud games.

It starts when Wally accidently splashes mud onto Artemis, who, takes offense immediately and throws a clump at him with startling accuracy. "Hey!" He shouts as he wipes mud from his face and fires back another lump toward the gray-eyed girl.

It soon escalates into a full blown mud battle that lasted a complete thirty minutes and by the end of Artemis is covered in mud, like every other person in a 30 foot radius.

She and Wally find themselves in the office with their boss, dripping wet from rinsing off the mud and their faces bright red with embarrassment. Her boss frowns and hands Artemis a towel to wrap her damp hair in.

She and Wally sit and talk with their boss for what seems like hours. "She/He started it!" They had said in unison when asked about the incident.

It basically ended with both of them getting fired. Artemis could kiss the number one counselor spot goodbye.

"I can't believe you!" Artemis groans when they exit the office.

"Me? This is clearly all your fault!"

"How? I didn't fling mud on unsuspecting people!"

"Lies! You so did!"

"I can't even deal with you." Artemis huffs, turning away with her arms crossed. "You are so immature."

He snorts and Artemis looks back at him. "Like you're the epitome of maturity." Artemis exhales sharply and turns, starting to stomp away. She makes it three feet before he calls out to her again, without the bitter tone.

"Um. Artemis? Do you need a ride?" Wally's face is red and rubs the back of his head, looking away. "We sorta got fired and you don't seem to have a car . . ." He trails off and Artemis huffs again.

"Fine." Artemis replies. "Only because I don't have a car." She rambles knowing that she could just call her mom to pick her up.

They fight the entire ride to Artemis's home.

 **Dimension 4: (Major altercation/ AKA Wally is stolen from)**

Artemis honestly doesn't know what she was thinking when she stole the hoodie from the campus laundry room. All she remembers is that it was raining and she was not in the mood to come home sopping wet. Plus, no one was there so maybe the owner left it?

She reasons this as she lounges around in said hoodie long after she arrives home. She doesn't want to admit it but it smells nice (must be freshly washed) and its material is soft.

For a split second, she almost wants to keep it.

Artemis has always been impulsive but not enough to keep wearing some stranger's jacket that she stole from a dingy college laundry room.

She tries to tell herself that at least. The words hold no weight as she finds herself in the hoodie a couple of days later, drifting around campus and handing out fliers for the archery team. It was the chilly fall and she was late running out of the house. She just grabbed the first coat hanging off the rack near her door and it's not her fault that it happened to be the blue, mildly ugly yet comfortable, hoodie.

So here she is in the baggy coat, narrowing her eyes at the girl who had crumpled her flier and threw it in the trash bin as soon as Artemis turned. She rips her gaze from the rude girl as she feels a tap on her shoulder.

"Can I have one of those fliers?" The short blonde girl in front of her smiles. Artemis scans her appearance and she looks to have just gotten off work from the campus shop, still in her uniform with her nametag that read 'CISSIE' in bold black letters.

Artemis smiles and hands the small girl the paper and she bounds off, running back toward a red haired man who was eyeing her intently. The girl chatters excitedly to him, but he isn't listening and continues to stare at Artemis. Who, in turn, continues watching him with an eyebrow raised.

He turns to Cissie and says something Artemis can't hear before jogging over to her. "You want a flier?" Artemis says, unsure for some reason.

The boy looks nonplussed. "That's my hoodie." Artemis freezes, her eyes widening slightly. There's really no way for her to deny it or justify herself. I mean, she did steal it. "I want it back." The boy taps his foot and Artemis locks her eyes with his green ones.

"Um, well, maybe later," Artemis shifts on her feet, face burning, her indignation gone.

"Why not?" Artemis would still be embarrassed if it weren't for his blatant rudeness.

Her mouth slides from an embarrassed smile to a frown. "Because I'm only wearing a tank top under it and it's a bit too cold for sleeveless weather." A slight pink tinges his face and he grumbles, putting his head in his hands.

"Wally!" Cissie shouts, her hands cupped around her mouth. "Your shift starts in ten minutes!" Wally mumbles something again before unzipping the bag at his waist and pulling out a pen and notebook, hastily scrawling something.

Ripping the sheet from the pad, he turns to Artemis. "Just return it please." Artemis squints at the phone number on the paper and looks back up only to find Wally gone.

Her hand tightens around the soft blue material, this is what she gets for wearing the stupid jacket out in public.

 **From: You**

 **To: Rude Jacket Guy**

 **Sent on: 11-13-12 (10:37 am)**

 **you told me to return the jacket. whats your address?**

Artemis bit her lip, staring at her phone. She had to face the guy at some point, better sooner than later. She glanced from her phone to her watch, she has an archery match at 12:00 and she sort of hoped that she could return the jacket to his place before it started.

 **From: Rude Jacket Guy**

 **To: You**

 **Received on: 11-13-12 (11:14 am)**

 **Dont bother. Im going to be at the archery match. You can just give it to me then. ^.^**

Tying her long blonde hair up in a ponytail, Artemis frowns at the emoticon. How lame.

 **To: Rude Jacket Guy**

 **From: You**

 **Sent on: 11-13-12 (11:17 am)**

 **ew emoticons. how . . . cheesy.**

Artemis sets her phone down on the sink before brushing her teeth, she briefly wonders how he would be at the archery match but then remembers the bright new member of the archery team. Cissie was strikingly good for someone of her experience.

It's 11:45 before Artemis checks her phone again, she had just arrived at the match and they were still in the process of setting up.

 **From: Rude Jacket Guy**

 **To: You**

 **Received on: 11-13-12 (11:21 am)**

 **:(**

She snorts in amusement before she can stop herself. Rubbing her arms and shivering, she pulls unzips her bag. Groaning when she realized that the only coat she had brought was Wally's.

 **From: Rude Jacket Guy**

 **To: You**

 **Received on: 11-13-12 (11:48 am)**

 **I can see your teeth chattering from over here. Its ok to wear the coat.**

Gritting her teeth, Artemis's gaze snaps toward the bleachers to search for the red head. She vows to herself not to wear the coat when she catches his laughing expression.

She breaks the vow ten minutes later when the breeze picks up. Shrugging on the material that was now familiar to her skin.

Curse Wally. Curse this hideous, dingy, and admittedly comfortable hoodie.

Coincidentally, Artemis never gets to return the jacket after the match. The team was so excited for their win that they rushed out to celebrate with pizza. Wally and newest member Cissie included.

The all laugh over the cheese pizza and recount their win and soon it's already 3:00. Most of the team has left by this point, leaving a few boys, Wally, Cissie, and Artemis.

Cissie excuses herself to go the restroom, leaving Wally and Artemis alone. He stares at her solidly for and Artemis briefly wonders why before realizing that she was still sporting his jacket.

He looks away, smiling slightly before letting out a laugh, Artemis joining him.

Coincidentally, she never returns the jacket.

 **Dimension 5: (Slight Alteration/ AKA Wally lives)**

Artemis is jittery. Well. That's a slight understatement, she sorta feels borderline explosive. She's not sure if she wants to savor the moment or back out immediately.

"Arty," Barbara sing-songs. "You look a teeny bit nervous." Artemis's anxious smile was replaced with a sour glare as she turned to the red head, who immediately backed down. "Just a little." Another glare. "I mean . . . you are _the_ Artemis. You've brought down super villains before."

Artemis snorts. "We were conditioned for that. Mentally prepared." She looks back towards the mirror, smoothing the wisps of blonde hair that have fallen out of her half down, half bun style.

"Still, your life has been endangered too many times to count. This shouldn't be a big deal." Barbara leans forward in her seat, crossing her ankles and Artemis can hear her heels clack together.

"Alright then _Batgirl_ ," Artemis snaps. "You tell me how yours goes with Dick."

Barbara lets out a low whistle as if offended but Artemis can still see red flushing her cheeks. "Snappy, are we?"

"As snappy as one gets on her wedding day."

 **A/N: me: *writes 4.5k words, doesn't edit, posts, and never looks back***

 **also**

 **me: *realizes I've had had a ff account since 2012 yet only kept 2 stories on it***

 **(aka i might start writing more again? eh?)**

 **this was basically me indulging in my want to write a bunch of AUs, which I might do another for dickbabs?**

 **au 1: Child's first word, au 2: resident evil, au 3: summer camp,au 4: stolen clothes, and au 5: wedding (this story as a whole admittedly not my best work tho)**


End file.
